10 New Year Resolutions for Designers

We have already bid farewell to the year 2014 and entered into the New Year. The new beginnings give such a refreshing feel and makes our minds relaxed. During the last few weeks of the month of December and first few days of new year besides introspecting, we set new goals (personal and professional) ready for the positive changes.

The struggles we go through the entire year, we promise ourselves to overcome the hurdles, and make resolutions to work on whatever prospect we lack in. Like some people are very poor in time management, while others promise themselves to ensure there is a change in their intake as in we will have healthy food and stay away from junk, do exercise and likewise.

While these are some personal goals that one wishes to work on, we all wish to make positive changes in the professional front too. Especially those who are working as freelancers and are their own bosses feel the need of making many resolutions and work on them seriously because these are directly related to the growth and development one wishes to get to reach higher levels and see their career graph rise high.

Let’s talk about the New Year resolutions of our designer friends. If you are the one who has made your new year resolution and working on it, we would love to hear from you. Just incase, you are still thinking (its never too late for fresh beginnings and make improvement), here we have shared a list of resolutions that you can make and work on to increase your productivity and make optimum use of time and resources available.

1. Promote yourself More

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Dribbble, Behance are serving a great deal in helping designers to promote themselves and gain recognition in the web design industry. Staying active on social networking websites doesn’t only get you clients instead help you stay connected with your fellow designers who can teach you a lot by providing feedbacks and uploading their designs thereby leaving you inspired. Be active on the social networking websites and promoting yourself is definitely going to work in favor.

2. Focus on Personal Projects

We hereby don’t intend to say that one should not go for client based projects but then if you give more attention to the personal projects, you are free to try out new things and work at your own pace thereby giving shape to your creative ideas. If time is constraint, you can check out our article that will help designers to manage time effectively.

3. Try out New Technologies

In this technologically advanced era we know that there is no end to what more cool stuff technology has to offer in the coming days. It is foolish not to make use of these technologies to get the work done. If one has to survive the cut throat competition posed by the peer group, one needs to make optimum use of new technologies which definitely is a wise idea.

4. Relaunching Your Personal Website

How about giving your personal portfolio website a facelift? Sounds good though! Relaunching your personal website will help you add more clients to your list thereby getting more work.

5. Sorting out the Finances

Earning is not such big deal than managing the finances. One who is smart enough to manage and sort the finances well knows the true value of each penny. If you have not worked on sorting the finances till date, its not late. Make this your new year resolution that you will be handling your finances smartly.

6. Making Optimum Use of Resources

Smart way of working and getting the same result is making use of resources available and getting the same result thereby enhancing your productivity and efficiency. Blessed are we to be the part of this era where there is no dearth of resources and helping tools that claim to help designers in handling different design projects.

From apps to software, plugins, tools there are innumerable resources that designers can make optimum use of to work the smart way and get the best desired results in comparatively lesser time and by putting in less efforts which otherwise could be used in other tasks. If you are looking for latest tools for designers and developers, bookmarking this link will help you life-long.

7. Do not Stick to Desk Always

Working hard, meeting the deadlines and putting in your best doesn’t mean you have to compromise on the quality time of your life with friends, family and for yourself. Once in a while during your work hours, it is good to take refreshing break, go for a stroll, have a brief chit chat with your family and friends, take a short nap. This resolution can actually work wonders in giving you a fresh feel and make you put in your best efforts.

8. Practice More

While working on different design projects, meeting the deadline becomes important many designers forget to take some time out for practicing. We all know practice makes the person perfect but then this continuous when one is new and with passing time one goes out of practice giving miscellaneous reasons. Practice, practice and practice should be one of the main resolution.

9. Cut out the Monotony

Be it work or life, sometimes we tend to make such monotonous routine or follow the same work pace, style that it brings in lot of boredom and in the field of designing this has no space as it directly effects the creativity. Whatever goes around you directly comes to your designing. Make this your new year resolution that you will cut down the monotonous routine, make changes in your surroundings and do anything to enhance your creative skills as everything around you works in favor or against whilst you work on designing projects.

10. Learn Something New

As they say there is always the room for improvement. No one in this world is perfect and each day we learn something or the other be it in personal front or professional. Whether you are a newbie or a professional designer, the number of years you have been into this field doesn’t matter if you are open to learning new things.

Whilst the year 2015 is still in infancy, we would suggest you to make your new year resolutions in the professional front too which will directly help you increase your productivity. Have you made any resolution other than the ones listed above? Why not share it with designer friends? You never know it might work wonders in others’ life.